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Video / DVD

New releases

A look at what's hitting the shelves

By Times Staff
Published May 12, 2005

ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13

DIRECTOR: Jean-Francois Richet

CAST: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Maria Bello, Drea de Matteo, Gabriel Byrne, John Leguizamo, Brian Dennehy, Ja Rule, Aisha Hinds

SYNOPSIS: A cop (Hawke) and a mobster (Fishburne) join forces against heavily armed invaders of a police station on New Year's Eve; remake of John Carpenter's 1976 B-movie classic.

WHAT WE SAID: Times film critic Steve Persall gave the film a B. "The remake of John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 is a nastier piece of work than the original, and that's saying something," Persall wrote. "Assault on Precinct 13 is a popcorn flick in the best sense of the term, as long as you don't mind a little blood in your butter."

MPAA RATING: R; strong violence, harsh profanity, drug references

RUNNING TIME: 109 min.

DIRECTOR: Frederik Du Chau

CAST: Bruce Greenwood, Hayden Panettiere, Wendie Malick, M. Emmet Walsh, Gary Bullock, Casper Poyck and the voices of Frankie Muniz, Mandy Moore, Michael Clark Duncan, Jeff Foxworthy, Joshua Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Rosenbaum, Steve Harvey, David Spade, Fred Dalton Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg.

SYNOPSIS: A zebra becomes a racing champion in a blend of live action and celebrities (Frankie Muniz, Dustin Hoffman, etc.) speaking for animals.

WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Philip Booth gave the movie a B-. He wrote that it is "a children's comedy with modest ambitions, competent live-action and voice performances and enough appeal for parents. . . . But Racing Stripes doesn't come close to the wit and imagination of the thoroughbred of talking-animal flicks, Babe."

MPAA RATING: PG; mild crude humor and some language

RUNNING TIME: 94 min.

DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson

CAST: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon, Bud Cort, Seu Jorge

SYNOPSIS: Murray stars as a Jacques Cousteaulike oceanographer out to find and kill the shark that ate his best friend.

WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a D+. "You may not see a smugger movie - not just a performance or a script, but the whole thing - in your lifetime. Each frame is so carefully designed for muted ironic effect, with a narrative going nowhere and eccentric characters repeating their quirks. The Life Aquatic (let's drop the pretentious Zissou part, please) is fine for the first reel when Anderson is throwing us off-balance. Then nothing becomes even less," he wrote. "Murray is an actor who can make something out of nothing (i.e., Lost in Translation), but this taxes his ham-on-wry abilities."

MPAA RATING: R; profanity, violence, drug abuse

RUNNING TIME: 119 min.

DIRECTOR: Michael Radford

CAST: Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes, Lynn Collins, Allan Corduner, Charlie Cox, Mackenzie Crook

SYNOPSIS: Retelling of Shakespeare's tale.

WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a C+. "Radford does a fine job of placing into context what have been perceived as anti-Semitic aspects of William Shakespeare's play. Radford makes the Jewish money lender Shylock (Al Pacino) a victim of bigotry, rather than a greedy monster," he wrote. "What Radford can't do is cover up the play's faults for modern audiences. Jokes that probably made theatergoers laugh 400 years ago simply don't work in modern times, and those failed attempts to lighten up the plot undermine sturdier dramatic material, especially the tension between Shylock and Antonio, whose penalty for failing to pay a debt is a pound of flesh sliced from his body."

MPAA RATING: R; for some nudity. (Persall wrote that few glimpses of bare breasts in the film were far less offensive than the violence and horror in many movies rated PG-13.)

RUNNING TIME: 138 min.

DIRECTOR: Paul Weitz

CAST: Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, Scarlett Johansson, Marg Helgenberger, David Paymer, Clark Gregg, Malcolm McDowell, Philip Baker Hall

SYNOPSIS: A middle-aged executive (Quaid) gets a new boss (Grace) half his age, who's also dating his daughter (Johansson).

WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the movie a B-. "In Good Company is a movie with severe mood swings, from serious concerns about ageism and ethics to goofy moments that don't suit the characters. Some segments positively snore," he wrote. "I can't say I love the movie, but I like the central performances. Especially Grace, who is able to remind viewers of young Tom Hanks with his sincerity and stammer."

MPAA RATING: PG-13; profanity, sexual references, drug references

RUNNING TIME: 109 min.

DIRECTOR: Uwe Boll

CAST: Christian Slater, Stephen Dorff, Tara Reid, Will Sanderson, Ed Anders, Robert Bruce, Daniel Cudmore

SYNOPSIS: Zombies on Shadow Island are hunted by a paranormal detective (Slater) and an anthropologist (Reid).

WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this film.

MPAA RATING: R; violence and language

RUNNING TIME: 96 min.

DIRECTOR: Jeff Nathanson

CAST: Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Calista Flockhart, Toni Collette, Joan Cusack, Tim Blake Nelson, Tony Shalhoub, Ray Liotta

SYNOPSIS: An FBI agent (Baldwin) pretends to be a movie producer to try to lure the mob into a sting. The aspiring director (Broderick) he hires has no idea he's being used.

WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this film.

MPAA RATING: R; language and some sexual content

RUNNING TIME: 99 min.

[Last modified May 11, 2005, 09:32:06]